Rediscovered photos of 1970s Stockport street life go on show

Heidi Alexander snapped moments of everyday life in the 1970s

Images taken by a Swiss-born photographer who was "charmed" by 1970s British street life are being exhibited after they were shared on social media.

Heidi Alexander found the "forgotten" snaps, which had been in storage for 40 years, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

She took the photos at Stockport Market on visits in 1976 and 1977.

The pictures will be shown at a free exhibition in the Stockport restaurant Where The Light Gets In from 23 April.

Ms Alexander, who was 21 when she took the photographs, moved with her American mother and four siblings to Scotland in 1969.

Heidi Alexander took the shots when she was a university student

Now based in Edinburgh, she said: "I started snapping bits of a nomadic childhood with cheap plastic cameras given to me by my father, a busy motor racing photographer.

"My background is partly why I was drawn to take photos in the streets in the UK.

"It was all unfamiliar, almost exotic, and I was charmed."

Stockport cooling tower dominated the skyline before it was demolished in 1981

She captured the moments of everyday Stockport life while visiting a friend in town when she was a student at Stirling University.

But she said the images were soon forgotten with the onset of motherhood and a full-time job in social work.

However, after finding the 35mm film negatives in April 2020, Ms Alexander started posting her photos on social media.

They attracted interest locally and eventually globally, featuring in the Guardian newspaper, before the idea for the exhibition in Stockport was born.

The images capture everyday interactions during weekend visits to the market

People at an underwear stall pore over a magazine

Stockport has been home to a market since the late Anglo-Saxon period

Stockport's covered market hall has hosted customers since opening in 1861

A teenager is seen eating on the steps of St Mary's Church